The Unforgivables
by Bienvenue
Summary: A murderer is never forgiven. A traitor is always hated. A woman who is both never knew what it meant to have a family. And somehow, she finds that very thing among the people who have committed the most despicable of sins. OC Alert Rated for language R
1. Chapter One: How To Save A Life

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters! The only thing that belongs to me is the plot, some jutsus, and some characters that will be mentioned at the BOTTOM A/N. Thank you.**

**Chapter One:** **How to Save a Life**

It was never my goal to be a killer.

I didn't have an excuse; no murderers did. It just happened. Whether it was a product of provocation, divine intervention, grudges, or my own insanity, the next thing I knew, I was staring down at two dead bodies, their skin bleached a cadaverous white and their eyes glazed and blind. They gazed fixedly up past me, into the depths of the darkness behind me, the ghosts of shock still frozen into their milky orbs.

I didn't recognize the people for a moment, but then I realized that, only moments ago, I had indeed assassinated my friends. And now I was looking down upon them like a judge, though I had no right to guide the hand of fate.

Strangely enough, I didn't feel the pain. Maybe I was numb, or perhaps I really didn't care enough for the anguish to set in. My megalomaniacal facet stuck with the latter on instinct, though I knew it wasn't true. I contented myself with the wonderful feeling of invincibility to avoid my more chastising side.

The cadavers were strangely beautiful. They were both men, but for some reason, the fingers in my mind scrabbled fruitlessly for their names. Try as I might to identify them, I could not remember their epithets. Only their faces. I doubted the amnesia would last very long; it was most likely a mechanism of my own subconscious to protect my mental health from the grief and self-loathing.

I felt a stirring behind my sternum, as if something was turning about in by chest. It was an uncomfortable sensation, but it was familiar, and didn't hurt as much. It didn't bother me as much as its cause.

_What's this? My little Atsuko finally did what she was meant to. Well, good riddance. They were annoying, anyway._

The voice was deep and rasping, like stone grinding against metal, but it was faint and slightly slurred with sleep. I heard it in the back of my mind, just a small sound nagging against my conscious.

_I didn't know you were awake, Makaze._ I answered mildly. I didn't object to his rebuke.

I felt the shifting again. My lungs prickled uncomfortably and my throat tightened. It was difficult to breath, like I had forgotten how, but the process soon returned to me.

Makaze was a spirit. He was to be given credit for my immense Chakra. He boasted about being more powerful than a Bijuu, but I knew that wasn't true.

My clan's bloodline limit was the ability to summon dead spirits and seal them inside a person. It added onto their Chakra and boosted their longevity.

I didn't know why he was sealed inside of me. He had been there since the day I was born. The evidence was right on my breastbone. A small, swirling seal, barely noticeable, rested just beneath my forehead protector that was tied loosely around my neck.

My teammates. They had been my teammates. Not they; we. Together we had been Team 19. Together we had earned our forehead protectors, together we had survived the Chuuin exams, and together we had clawed our way to the top of the charts as the most elite Jounin in the country.

It was me who had brought about our demise.

They both had honey blonde hair, grown out to be long and wolfish. They were twins, I remember. Their faces were similar, but beautiful in their own different ways. The slopes of their noses were slightly differing, as were their eyes.

Those eyes.

I tried to pull away, but my gaze was trained to their bodies. Dark liquid pooled from beneath their alabaster limbs, spreading across the sugary sand and clogging the air with its acrid scent. Their flak jackets were torn across the chest in the same identical place. Their swords lay patiently in the holsters at their hips, never to be drawn again.

It took a minute for me to regain my senses. My hand gripped a kunai. The metal felt cool and comforting against my palm, but it was slick with blood.

This wasn't my style. I was a Kamaitachi artist. I didn't use kunais unless I had to.

The night was balmy, though a breeze chilled my bones. The navy sky was spangled with an array of stars, but the moon was absent from the otherwise perfect night.

It wouldn't be long before someone came along. I had to leave.

She was old enough to look out for herself, right?

Regardless, she had to now. I had sheltered her for too long.

I wouldn't return home that night.

**A/N: **Alright, a Naruto story. I'm rewriting it. It was gathering dust in my files, so I figured, 'hey, what the heck?'

The beginning takes place a little before the original story begins. There will be some timeskips, but I'll notify you. I'm working on character profiles, histories and jutsus, so be patient or PM me if you don't understand something. The explanation on Makaze was a bit shaky here...I'll go into it with more detail when I can. Thanks for reading! And please, PLEASE review! That lovely little button is just begging to be pushed. Comments, Critiques, and ideas are very welcome.

Tsuchiya Atsuko and Makaze belong to me. 'Makaze' literally means 'demon' or 'evil' wind.

Oh, and 'she' will turn up in the next chapter. It's alternating POV's.


	2. Chapter Two: I'm Not Okay I Promise

**Chapter Two: I'm Not Okay (I Promise)**

I tapped the end of my bamboo brush on the table, staring at the man across from me.

"So what does that mean?" I asked impatiently. He had interrupted my kanji practice. If I got this just right, I could have me a new summon.

Michio formed his thin fingers into steeples, peering at me over them with deep olive eyes. I wanted to punch him right now, so bad that my free hand started to twitch underneath the table. I wasn't a kid anymore. He didn't have any right to treat me like one.

Michio preferred his techniques stealthy, quiet, quick, and clean, just like his conversation. I swear his waist was smaller than mine, his shoulders slimmer. His whole body was lithe and catlike, but he was chock-full of lean muscle. He was a Taijutsu user and didn't care for fancy summons or illusions.

His area was in the high-speed jutsus, using nothing to assist him but two specially tailored katanas that were curved into mean looking hooks at the end. When he started moving, you knew you were dead. For one, a Byakugan could hardly keep up with him. I didn't know about a Sharingan, but then again, I had never met an Uchiha. My sister hated them with a passion, and even though they had mostly died out, she forbade me to ever associate myself with one.

"It means that the Kazekage has restricted our team's movements. So," he answered coolly, raising an eyebrow at the incredulous look on my face, "That means we can't go on any missions."

"Because of the murder last night?" I scoffed. "That's stupid. Why our team? It's not like we were involved or anything."

I could describe Midoriyama Michio as many things. He was one of the four people I could trust with my life, with my whole world as I knew it. A lie had never tumbled past those lips of his. His eyes, shadowed by his choppy raven bangs, had never shown the faint proof of a lie.

He was one of the four people I would follow to the ends of the earth, into war, into hell itself, but somehow, I couldn't believe what he said next.

"Because it was your sister's team who was assaulted."

I laughed at him. His expression didn't falter, but he examined me like one would a caged animal.

"There must be a mistake, then," I panted after my laughter had subsided. "There wasn't a murder. So why don't you just cut the crap, Michi-kun, or I'll break your face."

He was used to my threats by now. He just looked at me curiously.

I really did wanna break his face.

"The Matsumoto twins are dead. Your sister is missing and presumed dead."

He really wasn't good at breaking bad news, was he? Weren't you supposed to like, fluff it up or something to make it more bearable?

I had known the Matsumoto twins, Akio and Akira, since I was a baby. They were my sister's best friends. The twins were practically joined at the hip and finished each other's sentences until it was almost annoying. I couldn't quite believe, even from Michio, that they were gone.

I couldn't believe that my older sister, Tsuchiya Atsuko, one of the most elite Jounin in the fire country, was missing, either.

"So why are we restricted? Shouldn't they be looking for her instead of just doing stupid stuff?" I snapped at him.

"They? These are the Kazekage's decisions, and his alone. They're restricting us because--"

The door open slammed against the wall. I saw chips of plaster crumble away from the force.

In crashed Tsubahi Shouta, his caramel colored hair in fluttering disarray around his icy eyes, wearing nothing but the bandages that covered the whole entire right half of his torso, down to the very tips of his fingers, and a pair of baggy black sweatpants.

Shouta was only thirteen, though he had muscles as big as Michio's. He had graduated early from the academy, a prodigy of his class, and was somehow filed into Team 4. He was a good head or two shorter than Michio. His skin was tanned from his frequent training out in the blazing sun of Sunagakure. I eyed the pockets of his pants suspiciously.

"You're not gonna blow us up 'cause you got dumped, are you, Shouta-kun?" I muttered, my mood already soured.

Another thing; Shouta didn't date. Period. The whole 'getting dumped' remark was a big mistake on my part.

He turned his piercing eyes on me, mouth twisted into a silent scowl. I swore I felt the temperature in the room drop a few degrees. His eyebrows furrowed and he frowned at me, stuffing his left hand into his pocket. From it, he plucked an impossibly tiny little ball, which I recognized as one of his favorite toys.

He hurled it at me and I almost flinched, but instead I simply touched the sweet spot on the explosive as it whizzed by my ear. Disarmed, the bomb hit the wall behind me and fell, useless, to the ground.

I knew it was probably a dud anyway, but I couldn't take my chances when the little man was pissed.

Shouta was infamous for his wire-thin temper. The slightest jibe would earn you a nasty two-degree burn for your troubles, and maybe even a trip to a Medical Nin if you were especially lucky.

Michio wasn't intimidated by his loss of control. He eyed him in the same annoyingly wise way that he had to me just a second ago.

"What's up, Shouta?"

"That idiot!" the boy unleashed, mashing his palms to his temples. A vein bulged in his forehead. "No missions? Not even one? 'Cause your stupid sister's team had to go and get killed!"

I bristled and stood up, planting my fists on the table. I opened my mouth to say something, but Michio beat me to it.

"It's not really Kagura's fault, you know. And this is a serious issue, stupid. Don't just come in here and start throwing bombs at her, or the Kazekage'll have your head. Actually, no he won't, 'cause I'll kill you first." He said smoothly, unweaving his fingers and smiling kindly. Shouta opened and closed his mouth mutely, his anger and frustration boiling over in his eyes, but his seemingly inexhaustible source of obscenities had dried up with that simple statement.

All of these threats were hollow, of course; the two, no matter how much they bickered, were inseparable, and they had been for nearly three years. I couldn't describe my relationship with them other than they were like my brothers. Shouta my little brother and Michio my older one.

Shouta was another of the four people I would follow to no end. He was vulgar, ill tempered, loud, violent, and unpredictable, but every once in a while, he'd become a regular kid again, letting me pat his caramel hair and treat him to ramen.

But only once in a _really_ long while.

Since he was a pyro technician and liked huge, attention-drawing lights, Shouta destroyed his victims with flamboyant displays of fireworks and explosives. It was kind of disgusting, actually, if you caught a glimpse of his opponents just before the smoke swallowed them up.

Needless to say, he wasn't only good at blowing stuff up. Shouta was one of the best Taijutsu users I've ever seen, next to only Michio himself. But then again, anyone who used Taijutsu seemed good to me; I couldn't punch someone in the face for my life. Just couldn't.

The room was silent for a good thirty seconds, which was a record for us. A staring contest ensued. Michio won, reducing Shouta to mumbling curses under his breath. I laughed softly, feeling my shoulders relax. Everything was going to be all right. Atsuko was going to come back, and she was going to track down the killers.

She always made things better.

"Tsuchiya-san?" a voice called. I broke from my happy stupor, my ears pricking at my name.

Standing in the doorway, unnoticed probably because of Shouta and Michio's arguments, was the young Kazekage, clad in robes of white and cerulean. He wasn't wearing his hat, his blood read bangs partly covering his sea-green eyes, thickly outlined by black.

I laughed internally. Gaara sounded so weird when he called me by my formal title. I missed it when he didn't have to act so stuffy and boring.

He stared at me vacantly. I never was able, in all the years that I had known him, to tell what he was thinking unless he told me outright. The humor drained from my eyes.

"We have found the weapon that the killer used to dispatch the Matsumoto twins," he said softly, but not without authority. "And it had your sister's fingerprints on it."

**OOOOOOOO**

**A/N:** Yay. Another chapter.

Okay, well. I realized, like halfway through this, that Kagura's dialogue isn't so...eloquent. So I had to go back and dumb everything down.

Nothing much to write. Tsuchiya Kagura belongs to me. Blah, getting carpel tunnel. XD

Peace out girly scouts.


	3. Chapter Three: The First of Me

**Chapter Three: The First of Me**

_So, where are we going now, Aiji?_ Makaze drawled lazily, turning over in his half-sleep. He was often restless when the weather dimmed. I stared up blankly at the gloomy sky, the drizzle clinging to my eyelashes and rolling steadily over my skin. I pulled the traveling cloak more tightly around me, shuddering. The cold bit through my flesh and into the bone, chilling the very marrow within them.

_I don't know. Why don't you tell me, Makaze?_ I muttered to him bitterly. I could hear his laugh, deep and guttural, grinding against my sternum uncomfortably.

_Why so glum, Atsuko-chan?_ He asked, prodding my mind in hopes to irritate me. I ignored him, focusing on the trail in front of me, making sure that my feet when one in front of the other. I found Makaze's use of childish honorifics annoying. Never before had I referred to someone as 'chan', not even my sister.

My sister.

No doubt she would have found out by now. I was far enough away from Sunagakure by now that search parties would have been called off. I was able to make it out of the desert before the day was done. I didn't know where, precisely, I was going, but I had hopes to reach Konohagakure before wind of my treachery had reached that far. Doubtless they had sent a messenger falcon by now, but I could outrun one easily if I tried hard enough. I needed to regroup and then make my move from there.

I wanted to apologize to Kagura, for leaving her so suddenly. But then again, I wasn't a liar. I wasn't sorry. And if she were truly seeking my apology, she would hunt me down herself. And since it was I who made the betrayal, I knew that Kagura's team would be deactivated until the investigation was over. They were prime suspects, after myself, of course. That, and Kagura had been close to the Kazekage since their days in the academy three years ago. I could trust him to leap to conclusions and instantly become paranoid about her safety.

At least he was good for something.

_That's my girl,_ Makaze said approvingly before drifting into a fitful sleep again.

I was glad he would leave me alone. His drowsiness proved to be accurate; the clouds were clearing up. The light was already faint, the sun having receded toward to western horizon, its weak, golden fingers drawing closed and brushing over the flat plains. Darkness would arrive soon. I needed to decide where to camp.

It had been an hour or so since I had exited the desert, and since then I had seen trees growing in sparse copses, but none of these provided good enough shelter or cover. I didn't want to be ambushed by a surprise search team sent from either village while I slept.

Troubled, I roused Makaze and relayed out problem to him. He was cross that I had woken him, but came up with the solution of,

_Why don't you make one?_

I argued that with my depleted Chakra I didn't have the energy to construct one suitable enough. Space and time jutsus didn't usually extract so much strength from me, but I had used many to escape from the reach of Sunagakure. That and I was carrying extra equipment; a red pearl necklace around my neck and a rather large summoning scroll strapped to my back, as well as an extra kunai holster or two strapped to my hips and right leg.

For my most common techniques I needed many knives, but I carried a few extra if I just needed to make a quick and clean execution.

My twin fans, which Makaze affectionately called his 'tools', were the lightest of the load, and my favorite and most frequently used weapons. The paper was cream colored, with the same stark black, spiraling seal that was on my collarbone painted in the center. The frames of the fans were made of stainless steel, painted black and wrought thin to decrease the weight. The blades, rising on each individual fold, looked like curved, silver shark teeth. Each of the fans was about two and a half feet in length, and the blades on the ends were about two inches long. Since my Chakra was most strongly wind-based, I could stretch my energy to expand the blades' reach is need be.

I didn't care about decoration as much as other kunoichi; if it got the job done, I was satisfied.

_Well, it's _your_ job as the host to keep us both safe, _Makaze grumbled, _so why are you bothering me about it if your just going to tell me I'm stupid in the process?_

I was silent for a moment, stopping in my tracks. I wasn't going to lie; having another sentient being inside you and commentating every move you made wasn't easy, especially if you depended on the other for a substantial amount of your strength. I had a lot to credit Makaze for; on many occasions had he saved me from death and he had won me numerous titles of high praise. I wouldn't be half the shinobi I was now if not for his assistance. Only with my simplest jutsus did I not call on him for help.

_You're right, I'm sorry._ I said to him, and I felt his surprise. I usually didn't accept responsibility for a rebuke. But today I was feeling exceptionally charitable.

With twighlight descending, I didn't have many options. I sorted through my repertoire of survival tricks. Weighing the situation, I simply decided on the easiest path: sleep in a tree.

It was risky, but I was tired and sick of traveling.

Stumbling into the nearest cluster of maples, I selected the thickest looking one and climbed the trunk, settling myself into the crook of a branch with my back resting against the base of the tree. I rubbed my eyes.

I fiddled with a kunai, hooking my finger through the loop at the end and twirling it about. Though I was exhausted, I couldn't bring myself to finally sleep. It had been nearly two days since I had gotten proper rest, and my muscles were screaming from the strain that my high-speed jutsus had put on them. I was good at ignoring the pain, but I was an idiot if I didn't give my body the nourishment it needed. It could only sustain so much.

_Hey, Makaze?_ I said suddenly, but cautiously and quietly, in case he had already fallen asleep.

_Hmm?_ He answered.

_I'm curious, _I went on. _Where are you from?_

He was quiet, apparently mulling something over. I patiently awaited his answer, knowing he was touchy with the subject, but I was curious.

_I don't think you're ready to know yet, Aiji. _ He said evasively. I was disappointed; the same exact answer for nearly sixteen years.

_Come on,_ I whined, in a way that was very unlike me, _I'm 21 now. I'm not a little child anymore, so stop treating me like one. It must be annoying, keeping a secret for that long._

_You know, I can wait for a long time. I've been waiting for many lifetimes, and a few more years won't hurt. You're not ready yet. Trust me, I'll know when you are._

He had a kind of fatherly tone that I didn't like. I hated being patronized, but I knew if he didn't want to say anything, it was futile to try and pry information out of him until he was ready. He was annoying that way.

I stayed awake for a while after that, examining the stars. Makaze had long since fallen back to a restful sleep, so he did not intrude on my revelations.

Personally, I was very unimpressed with stars, even though millions upon millions crushed the sky in this area because there was barely any light pollution. They seemed kind of pointless and insignificant; so many people who had their heads in the clouds wrote lengthy poems about their mysteriousness and god-like beauty. If they couldn't help me in any way, then I wasn't interested in the slightest.

Unwillingly, I coasted into a thin sleep.

**0000**

**A/N:** Okay, third chapter up. Its going pretty slowly right now, but I promise the next chapter will be at least a little exciting. I'm skipping over Kagura's chapter and writing another in Atsuko's POV. I'll finally be able to write some fighting scenes, I can't wait.

Review! Tip your waiters! Ideas, comments, and critiques are all very welcome! -puppy dog eyes- please? I need some for this story. it's sad when I have two other stories with reviews and one that doesn't.

Oh, and another thing; the term 'Aiji' means 'my beloved child'. Since Makaze is so fatherly toward Atsuko, it seemed fitting.

Ciao.


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